Jicarilla Fish Weblog

Fishing Report 9-30-09

The Jicarilla Fishing Lakes are following the scrub oak and aspen into prime fall like conditions. The surface water temps are just over 60°F across the board and fishing is picking up. We did get a few reports this week and there was a slight bump in fishing pressure. The colors are spectacular and the Elk are talking up a storm in the mornings and evenings. Everything adds up for a great fall trip to the Jicarilla Lakes.
Mundo Lake is in good shape with clear cool water and very limited weed issues. The only reports at Mundo this week are from trout anglers. The trout fishing is considered fair right now and the average size is 11-12”. Lures including castmasters and small spinners are working as are flies including wollybuggers and pheasant tails and probably several other nymph patterns. The docks have been relatively unoccupied and the campground is fairly empty as well.
Enbom Lake is the hotspot for the second week in a row. The average trout is 13-14” but there was some hearsay that 2 20+ inchers were pulled out over the weekend. Fishing is considered good to excellent depending on the time of day. Early morning fishing has been quite good for bait anglers using powerbait and also for the possibility of contacting rising fish with a dry fly. A size 12-14 parachute Adams will take fish if there is any surface activity. The middle part of the day is still producing fish and the bait anglers are having good success with yellow powerbait. Nymph patterns and small lures are also a good bet during the day. In the evening there may be another chance for dry fly fishing and catch rates should pick up a bit for bait and lure anglers as well.
Stone Lake is beginning to show signs of getting into that fall groove that we have all been waiting for. There were a few anglers out there this weekend and they put in some hard hours. The best first hand report that I received was from 2 anglers that fished 6 hours on Saturday afternoon and 5 hours on Sunday morning. They landed 2 fish total, with 1 Rainbow at 18” and 1 Rainbow at 20”. They also had 1 break off and several other bites. They were using the standard red and white daredevil as well as castmasters. The really intriguing part of the story is that these guys saw a bunch of fish and had a lot of follow ups to the boat. That suggests that these fish are starting to forage and search out feed and that they are willing to pursue prey. This bodes well for what can be the best 2 months at Stone Lake (October/November). There are some real monsters in Stone right now and headhunters should give a shot. This is the time to check your drag and spool some fresh line.

Kevin Terry
Fisheries Biologist

Fishing Report 9-22-09

The Jicarilla Lakes are getting primed for the fall fishing season. Nighttime temps have dropped below freezing for the first time this week and the water temps are dropping steadily. Enbom Lake is excellent with bait and flies. Mundo Lake is fair to good. Stone Lake is producing trout between 18 and 23 inches, but the fishing is fair to slow. Angling pressure remains low at all three of the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes.
Enbom Lake is the big producer lately. The Rainbows are averaging 13” but there are good numbers of 14-17” fish. We have received good reports from anglers using orange powerbait on the top and bottom. Flies and small lures are also working well at Enbom. Standard nymphs and woolly buggers are catching fish throughout the day and a parachute adams pattern will work for risers in the morning and evening. The weeds are not completely out of the picture, but apparently they are not as bothersome recently. The limit at Enbom will go up to 20 fish per day on October 15th which gives you some time to plan a fall trip to the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes.
Mundo Lake is in need of some attention. While the local focus has shifted to fall hunting, Mundo has been neglected recently. There have been a handful of anglers out there, and the few hearsay reports that I have received suggest that the trout fishing is fair to slow. I can’t presume as to what baits, lures and flies are working, but I can assume that the fish are going to be more active and opportunistic as the water temps drop into the prime zone for trout and the aquatic insect hatches decline with many of them in the sedentary larval and pupae life stages. There has not been any news from Bass or Catfish anglers this week.
I received 2 reports from Stone Lake this week. The first is a second hand report from an angler who was fishing jigs for the better part of the day. He landed 3 Rainbows with the largest at 23” and the smallest at 18”. He also lost a few fish and one that was significantly larger than the 23. The other report comes from a pair of anglers who again spent the better part of a day at Stone. They caught one fish between them at 18”. These folks were using spoons and large hardware. Conditions are improving daily at Stone and things are shaping up for another good fall season. We would love to see some 10 lbers this year so let’s all get together and generate some good reports. The pressure has been very moderate for the last 2 fall seasons, so there is no reason to hold back info from the other anglers.
The Navajo River has been off and on lately, with turbid conditions following the storms we have been getting almost daily. The water has been clearing up in a day or 2 after these events, so check the recent weather if you are traveling to the Navajo. Spawning season is almost here for the Browns, and some larger fish will be moving into the Navajo from the San Juan River. This is a beautiful time of year on the Jicarilla so get up here and wet a line.

Kevin Terry
Fisheries Biologist

Fishing Report 9-8-09

This week we have very little to report from the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes. Fishing pressure has been down and there have not been any reports. There has been a little hearsay but even the talk is minimal. The lakes should be fishing about the same as they have been for the past few weeks. Weed harvesting efforts continue at Stone Lake and more and more fishable water is becoming available. The trapping contest is over at Enbom and the campsites are open again. I did get a nice picture of a brown from the Navajo River but I am not sure what it was caught on.
Mundo Lake is in the upper 60’s with good clarity. Rising fish can be seen on the lake in the early morning and especially in the evenings. The Bass have plenty of small bluegill to eat thanks to a good spawn this year. There hasn’t been any news from the cat anglers but they may be at Dulce Lake.
Enbom Lake is the one place where I have heard a little gossip. The skinny is that at least 2 fish in the 17-18” class were caught over the weekend. I also heard that they are biting well on powerbait below a bobber.
Stone Lake is a ghost town again. My recent reporter has not checked in this week and I couldn’t tell you one way or the other what is happening out there. Conditions are good though, and the water temp is heading in the right direction. The Elk have just started bugling, and that has been a timer for me in the past few years.
The Navajo River is still looking good. It is low and really clear which is quite rare for the Navajo which usually has some turbidity. I received a picture of a pretty Brown but I couldn’t tell how big it was or what it was caught on. I also heard talk of a few Rainbows coming out of the newly improved stretch.

Kevin Terry
Fisheries Biologist

Fishing Report 9-1-09

The Jicarilla Fishing lakes are still in the late summer groove. The best fishing times for trout are early morning and evening with slow to fair action throughout the day. Mundo Lake has been slowing down for all species and fishing pressure has dropped off as well. Enbom is fishing fair on the top of the water column with several nice Rainbows reported this week. Our 1 man fishing report from Stone suggests that it too has slowed down. I have now had a catfish from Dulce Lake in my hands and they are nice fish with big fillets. The fish I saw measured 21.5” and 5.3lbs. The Navajo River is clear and low. The new pools are looking good and local anglers have been catching Rainbows, a few Carp, and a couple of the native Roundtail Chubs.
Mundo is considered slow right now, but mornings and evenings are fishing fair for Rainbows that average 12”. Powerbait and worms are getting bites, as are flies and small spinners. I have not received a report on Bass lately but the bluegill are still hitting on small beadheads (#16-20) of various patterns. Catfishing has been slow recently.
Enbom Lake has been producing nice Rainbows up to 16”. The best bites are on flies and lures fished high in the water column. A small boat or float tube will make this strategy even more efficient. There have also been a couple of reports from bait fishermen who are having success with powerbait under a bobber. The Trapping contest is still going on out there so the camp sites will be occupied through the weekend.
Stone Lake has been fished regularly in the evenings by a local angler for the past several weeks. According to him, the fishing as really slowed up this past week with only a couple of hits in the past few nights. We are continuing to harvest the weeds out there, and this will continue for another month or so. There will be some debris in the water column from the harvester.
Dulce Lake has some nice Channel Catfish that have only recently been fished to. I measured and weighed one this morning that was caught yesterday evening. He was 21.5” and weighed in at 5.3 lbs. This fish had a really meaty body and was thick from head to tail. Dulce Lake is open to fishing and is probably the best bet if you are looking for some nice cats.
The Navajo River is looking really fishy this week. The water is low and clear. Several local guys have been fishing it with mixed bag results. The best Rainbows I have heard about are in the 12-15” class. There have also been a couple of reports of catching big carp on flies. The most intriguing to the biologist is that there have been at least 3 Roundtail Chub caught in the past few weeks. These fish are warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and the Jicarilla Game and Fish Department is working to protect them in the Navajo River. I will be posting a photo of this species in the photo gallery on the www.jicarillahunt.com website. If you catch a Roundtail Chub it must be released immediately. Together we can protect this beautiful Native.

Kevin Terry
Fisheries Biologist